RENOVATE

U-Socket USB Wall Charger

It was only a matter of time for something like this to come out. The U-Socket adds two additional USB ports next to your traditional power outlets, providing a charging station for your electronic devices without having to turn your computer on.

Kohler K-3760 33″ Undermount Sink

Neutrabox

Here’s a nice minimalist mailbox that can be mounted on a post or railing. Handmade from left-over scraps of galvanized metal sheets, each mailbox features rolled metal edges and stainless steel and aluminum fasteners for rust prevention. A wall-mount version will be available soon, so check back if that’s what you need.

The Waterhouse at South Bund

The Waterhouse at South Bend in Shanghai is a wonderful contrast of old and new. Chinese architects NHDRO have thoughtfully renovated a disused Japanese army headquarters into a modern boutique hotel, keeping the original concrete and brick walls while adding current materials and details. Might be worth bookmarking if you’ve got an older building renovation in your future. The Waterhouse is located by the new Cool Docks development on the South Bund District of Shanghai. If you’re interested in staying there, bookings are available through Design Hotels.

Travel Kitchen by CPHsquare

Looking for a small customized kitchen that’s easy to move around? Enter in CPH Square kitchens. They make kitchens for individual clients with specific needs for functionality. Flexible water taps and drains make these kitchens suitable for indoors or out and have tons of available options for table tops, zinks, taps and interiors.

Model shown is powder painted stainless steel with a Corian table top, stainless zink and Vola tap. Size can be specified and be painted in any color.

Pigeon Roost into Mini Loft

Ran across this renovation project over on Dwell: it’s a the 360-square-foot carriage house that was transformed from a pigeon roost into a mini loft. Especially notable is the postage stamp sized kitchen and bathroom.

Ron BenShoshan’s DIY Faucet

As you know, we don’t often post pics of reader’s homes, but when Ron BenShoshan emailed us pictures of his apartment renovation I couldn’t help but notice the faucet/towel rack in his bathroom. Turns out, he made it himself:

“I was looking for something minimal for my bathroom and wanted to combine 2 different but related uses. It’s a plain metal pipe used for plumbing. I’m an industrial design student so I have access to the workshop at school. All I did was bend the pipe to the angle I needed, weld 2 shorter pipes to connect to the wall (only the one on the right is connected to water), put a short tube inside that controls the direction of the water flow so that it doesn’t flow the left side of the pipe, chrome it and fabricate to small housing units out of corian that hide the connections to the wall. Not more than 2 working days!”

Impressive, yes? More images and links to his Flickr pics below.(more…)

Flemish Farmhouse Kitchen

Just saw this impressive sliding door/wall over on Dwell. The Belgian architects 51N4E choose 5mm-thick white marble mounted on a 20mm honeycomb structure for the sliding door that separates the kitchen and adjacent storage space. The wall appears either opaque or translucent depending on time of day and amount of light.

Bazel Chapel House

Perusing OWI this morning, I came across this Chapel House in the Flemish village of Bazel. While the chapel windows and lofty ceilings definitely induce envy, the mix of soft muted colors and occasional odd material makes for an inspiring interior. Perhaps with the right paint color in a strategic spot and the addition of a few antiques or collectibles, you can steal a little bit of the look for your own home. Also, take a look at their use of chicken wire, or at least that’s what it looks like… photos below.

Seamless Sinks

You know that grime around the sink drain and/or disposal that you have to scrub at whenever it gets gross? This sink does away with all that by having no seams whatsoever. Instead, the strainer basket seals both the drain and disposer sides of a sink, allowing for a clean and sanitary sink bottom. Plus, it looks like the sink is a snap to install because of a simple universal mounting system.

Prices start around $295 for a small bar sink and go up to around $700-$800 for a larger kitchen sink.

Jörg Ebers Townhouse

Another interior I bookmarked over on tumblr was this townhouse by Jörg Ebers of Ebers Architekten. It’s pretty fabulous with all sorts of surprising colors carefully applied to certain areas; my favorites are the full-on color tile bathrooms.

Pool House Backsplash

I usually use our tumblr account to bookmark interior images, and because we’ve been crazy busy with the site remodel, I’ve been a bit remiss about occasionally posting some of the ones that stand out the most. Today I finally got a chance to go through some of my rss feeds, and found this image over at kbculture. I think it’s a pretty perfect example of how minimal design can have interest and warmth with the right use of materials- in this case, with the green glass backsplash and the wood accents. To see more, take a look at the Pool House via Retrouvious.

Appartement 50 installation

Just ran across this space by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec over on Daily Icon. A few Bouroullec objects are scattered throughout the apartment, of course, but especially interesting is the use of color in certain areas. While certainly the apartment has a simple and restrained feel, the color used in a few niches, walls and doors provides a focused ‘fun’ aspect that balances out the otherwise austere palette. More pictures below.

Salvaged Staircase

Jan Korbes’s Garbage Architecture used the remnants of the antique floor and construction wood from the Schloss Wiesenburg to create this impressive staircase. Designed in the ‘shape of add-on boxes supporting itself as a constructed, empty beam’, it has the lightness of a floating staircase with the texture and history of the castle itself.

Lyndsay and Fitzhugh’s Brooklyn Home

Lovely, isn’t it? Kudos to Lyndsay and Fitzhugh for making such a light and bright space. If you’ve got the time, take a look at their home through Todd Selby’s lens. There’s some great shots of vignettes and such.